Family

Isn't family the greatest?  Well and sometimes the worst?  I really love my family.  We aren't perfect by any means but we try hard.  Sometimes we fall short in every category but there's love there.  To me that's the best start and foundation a family could ever have.  I feel so lucky and blessed to have this opportunity in my life to have children and see them develop and grow, wondering all the while what it must have been like for my own parents.  I find true joy in watching them learn and grow, changing week to week sometimes even day to day.

It's so hard raising children in today's society.  There are so many choices and so many distractions.  Lots of paths to choose from on their journey of life and lots of pitfalls to confuse, taunt and knock them on their backsides.  Is it weird that I enjoy watching my children work through their own problems?  Yup I said the word enjoy.  It's so amazing to me how smart they are.  You can see them think carefully about things and when they are talking to me about it you can actually hear them working it out you're just the backboard they needed to rebound off of.  Sometimes I think that they are living beyond their years, not necessarily by choice but almost forced into it by the world.  The world thinks that speed is the most important thing, but to it's own detriment.

I tell my children all the time, you are a child and I will fight for that.  You have plenty of time to grow up so take your time doing it.  Whenever my children rush on a test, skim reading I call it, they always get a lesser grade than if they had taken just a little more time to carefully think about it.  Doesn't mean they have to be slow just careful.  I think growing up should be addressed with the same approach.  Take a little bit more time to think carefully about everything that you're doing.  Take a little more time to think about where you want to end up and all the ways that you might be able to get there.  Make educated decisions about your future not rash dreams that I hate to say can become quite unrealistic.  Encourage others around you to do the same and be a good example living your own life in a way that you can be proud of and that others can benefit from.

I want my kids to savor the moment.  Enjoy what's in front of them and let go of what they might have messed up on.  Too many times when we are adults we carry our mistakes with us and hinder our own futures.  What purpose does that serve?  If we rush through life we are more likely not only make mistakes once but the same mistakes over and over again.  Yes, taking our time to stop and think is never a bad thing.  You only get one life to live.  So live it.  Live it to the best of your abilities and enjoy the ride.  What's the point of taking it if you don't find joy in it.

I love watching our youngest who is 2 1/2 explore the world around her.  No worries, fearless, everything is exciting, although the attention span needs more work but that will come with time.  Patience is definitely not in a toddler's vocabulary.  Her expressions when she discovers something new, as if she lights up, it's amazing to me to watch.  We have started reasoning with her a little more when we see her understanding of why.  I love hearing her conversations grow.  The older she gets and more she interacts with others the more she makes sense.  It's not jibber jabber as much anymore.  She's an amazingly intelligent little girl quick and eager to learn and grow.  I feel honored to be a part of it.  She takes her time and to look and listen carefully to everything around her.  As a result she learns it faster and has a deeper understanding of it.

I really, from the bottom of my soul, deeply love my husband.  He's the perfect balance for me.  Where he falls short he looks to me and me the same with him.  I've never had such balance before and it's funny when I am stressed about life he isn't and when he is I'm not.  We alternate this great calm feeling between us taking turns to worry like a see saw.  I love talking with him about anything, we can talk about everything no tippy toes.  We are both the kind of people that are eager to learn new things and challenge everything around us to form our own opinions and it's so great to be able to disagree and have that respect for what each other has said.  I love his kindness towards me.  It exceeds expectations.  He's my rock.  I love him more and more everyday.  Sickening lol.

Families are awesome.  What a blessing.  Even in family fights and embarrassing stories that your kids tell to perfect strangers that make you blush, I love it all.  It's wonderful.  No wonder it's the one thing that's hardest to maintain and worth fighting the most for.  Best thing on earth.

What's your family like?